Friday, April 15, 2005

The US has sworn in commanders of a new military reserve which President Bush says is meant to deter terrorism.

Two hundred thousand reservists paraded before Mr Bush at the Pentagon. The new formation, which the president wants to become a twenty million-strong force in the near future, will be directly under his command.

The move comes amid growing fears of terorism.

The parade marked the first part of a day of events marking the anniversary of a failed attempt to assassinate the President's father in 1991.

Now, does anybody on this entire planet think the BBC would report such an event so blandly ? If this really happened they'd be going ape with the Hitler analogies - rightly so, for once. This is exactly what Hitler did when he created the SS as a seperate force loyal only to him. But no, not this time. Take the headline here: 'Chavez creates new loyal reserve'. Say what ? If ever there was a sentence that called out for quotes, it's this one. Loyal to what or who exactly ? The whole article reads like something from a parallel universe where it's normal for heads of state to set up their own private army. Far be it from me to complain about a Beeb article lacking editorial comment, but this one lacks any context. No quotes from opposition leaders, no hints as to whether it's constitutional for the Venezualan President to set up his own force, no hint even that he is a communist dictator.

At least we now know what it takes to make the Beeb report a story straight - it just has to be one that's potentially revealing about a Liberal pin-up